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Old 09-05-2012, 06:52 PM   #5
Nomad Willy
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City: Concrete Washington State
Vessel Name: Willy
Vessel Model: Willard Nomad 30'
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 18,743
Everybody's looking for a miracle .... and expecting it too. Most think if they keep trying different stuff the miracle will come along. They listen to guys like Marin and others that think they've found the miracle but if you look at Marin's boat a good part of it you can't even see because he's afraid to expose it to the sun and weather.
Nothing sticks to teak because of the oil in the wood and moisture eventually gets under it and it's game over.
A point to the OP is that you've used epoxy and probably almost nothing will penetrate the wood again. I think you are now better off w the high tech stuff but epoxy may be a good base for oil based finishes too. If you use oil bases stuff let us know.
To me the holy grail of brightwork may be in the ease that what you use comes off. Sanding a bit and flowing on a new topcoat is easy and almost fun. The dreaded activity is removing the old finish. I used a torch and scraper in the old days and that worked quite well but one couldn't help burning the wood a bit so varnishing had mixed results.
I think the closest thing to a perfect finish is using a quality product and taking care of it like cleaning and waxing ect. Then put on a coat or 2 in the spring after light sanding and when that is not satisfactory strip and refinish. I think what you use is not as important as how you use it and maintain it. So most of us may already have the perfect finish but just need to pay more attention to all the details connected to it.
I have a fairly new concept that may increase the performance of oil based finishes and that is to apply very heavy coats of carefully selected oils and thinners like turpentine and pine tar mixed w kerosene (aids penetration) over a period of time. With a strong enough base of penetrated oil paint or varnish may work much better. The heavy oil may also greatly decrease the ability of moisture getting under the topcoat.
No miracle to be sure but perhaps petter performance. I think better performance is all we can realistically expect.
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